Stormwater Upgrades Will Help Keep Naples Bay Clean – The South Florida Water Management District Governing Board has authorized $1.5 million for a city of Naples stormwater improvement project benefiting Naples Bay. The district funds are part of the total $7.7 million effort.

The funding will allow the city to implement a broad range of stormwater improvements, including pump station upgrades, storm sewer upgrades, swale restoration, creation of a water quality park and control structure upgrades.

“The City of Naples is taking steps to improve stormwater quality before it enters Naples Bay,” said Clarence Tears, director of the management district’s Big Cypress Basin Service Center. “The cumulative impacts of each of these incremental projects will greatly benefit our precious coastal communities.”

Located in Collier County, Naples extends over nine miles along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. About 16 percent of the city is comprised of bays, waterways, channels and other critically important surface water bodies.

Due to the city’s location in a low-lying coastal environment, as well as substantial build-out and ongoing redevelopment activities, some areas of the city are more prone than others to nuisance and damaging flooding and also to a degradation of the quality of surface water bodies.

The city of Naples passed a stormwater ordinance effective December 17, 2007 that specifies minimum stormwater design criteria for new buildings and details best management practices for property owners.

Chronic flooding in the Naples downtown area is the result of aging and insufficient stormwater infrastructure, said Tears. Improvements to the infrastructure are under way, although stormwater runoff continues to carry pollutants into Naples Bay.

The goals of the proposed stormwater improvements are to prevent flooding through the use of increased retention and detention, and to improve the stormwater collection features, while decreasing the quantity and improving the quality of waters released to Naples Bay.

This stormwater improvement project is part of the Naples Bay Surface Water Improvement and Management Plan, approved in 2006, which identifies projects that can be implemented to enhance the health of this impacted system.

Naples is surrounded by major land reserves, including the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge, and Picayune Strand State Forest.

Air Force Switches on Largest Solar Power Plant – North America’s largest solar photovoltaic system is now up and generating power at Nellis Air Force Base in the sunny desert of southern Nevada.

Air Force Switches on Largest Solar Power Plant

The $100 million solar power plant at Nellis will supply about 25 percent of the total power used at the base, where 12,000 people live and work.

The 14 megawatt photovoltaic array will generate more than 30 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. Completed earlier this month, it was inaugurated with a ceremony at Nellis on December 17.

“Nellis, the ‘Home of the Fighter Pilot,’ is now home to the largest solar electric power plant in all of North America,” said Colonel Michael Bartley, Nellis Air Force Base commander.

“The project also provides a future test bed for the Department of Defense to assess the benefits of similar arrangements on installations across the United States,” he said.

Using power generated by the solar array is expected to bring about $1 million in cost savings annually, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 24,000 tons each year.

The solar power array is a joint endeavor that combines technology and systems expertise from SunPower Corporation and financing by MMA Renewable Ventures with discounted purchase commitments by the U.S. Air Force and Nevada Power.

SunPower designed and built the photovoltaic power plant using its proprietary single-axis solar tracking system which follows the sun throughout the day and delivers “up to 30 percent more energy than traditional fixed-tilt ground systems,” the company says.

MMA Renewable Ventures, LLC has financed and will operate the solar power plant, selling electricity to Nellis Air Force Base at a guaranteed fixed rate for the next 20 years.

MMA closed a fund for the system earlier this year with financing commitments from Citi, Allstate, and John Hancock Financial Services, and Merrill Lynch providing construction financing.

Nevada Power will support the project by purchasing Renewable Energy Credits generated by the solar array.

“This solar project at Nellis is a first step of many toward making renewable electricity integral to the operations of the U.S. Air Force,” said Air Force Assistant Secretary William Anderson at the inauguration ceremony.

“As the largest consumer of energy in the federal government, the Air Force is well-positioned to promote both solar technology and new approaches to its implementation,” said Anderson.

“The best way to secure a healthy and prosperous economy is to develop our affordable, reliable local resources,” said Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons, who flipped a switch marking full operation of the system.

“With these 14 megawatts, Nellis Air Force Base is leading the country in solar energy deployment, a move that is good for the environment and our nation’s energy security alike,” he said.

Covering 140 acres of land at the western edge of the Nellis base, the photovoltaic system is made up of 72,000 solar panels.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada congratulated the Air Force, saying, “Nevada and the United States have the technology and natural resources to serve our growing power demand with clean, renewable energy.”

“Solar power is the fastest growing energy resource to help meet our escalating power demand, generating reliable, affordable power without creating emissions or waste,” said SunPower CEO Tom Werner. “We are proud that SunPower was selected by the Air Force to design, supply, and build this hallmark project.”

“Working with partners, such as Nellis Air Force Base, to develop and generate solar energy projects is part of our strategy of providing clean, safe, reliable electricity to our customers at reasonable and predictable prices,” said

“Now that the Nellis solar energy system is on-line, the state of Nevada will be number one in the United States in solar generation per capita,” said Michael Yackira, chief executive officer of Sierra Pacific Resources, parent company of Nevada Power, which plans to expand its investments in renewable energy.

Illegal Gas Cans Cost Wal Mart $250,000 – Wal-Mart has paid $250,000 to settle air quality violations stemming from the chain’s sale of illegal portable gas cans throughout the states. This is the fourth time in recent years that Wal-Mart was found to be distributing illegal gas cans.
The company sold portable fuel containers that create air pollution and do not comply with state clean air regulations, says the California Air Resources Board, ARB.

The board has accepted a settlement of $250,000 from Wal-Mart Stores to compensate for the violations. The repeated violations were due to systematic computer errors that allowed the fuel containers into California. These have since been rectified, says the board.

“Enforcement will continue to be an important aspect of cleaning our air,” said Mary Nichols, who chairs the Air Resources Board. “The fumes from these cans should have been prevented.”

Air Resources Board data shows that the more than 11 million gas cans statewide contribute about 100 tons per day of smog-forming hydrocarbons.

Of the 100 tons per day, about three-quarters are associated with fuel evaporation from vents and other types of openings.

Permeation – fumes that leak through the container walls – and spillage contribute about 16 tons per day.

State gas can regulations are intended to ensure that spillage and evaporative emissions are minimized or eliminated.

ARB investigators found that between 2003 and 2007, Wal-Mart allowed more than 3,000 illegal gas cans to enter their California distribution system and subsequently be sold.

“Because of their large numbers and lack of emission controls, gas cans contribute substantial amounts of hydrocarbon emissions, ozone-forming smog and related health problems,” warned the Air Resources Board.

ARB initially sought the maximum fine of $500 for each violation, but Wal-Mart’s own investigations and extensive cooperation led to leniency in assessing the penalty.

Ultimately, Wal-Mart paid $83 for each gas can violation. This range is four to five times the amount the individual products cost consumers.

Hydrocarbons from these cans can lead to the creation of ground level ozone. Ozone irritates and inflames the lining of the respiratory system and causes coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath. It can worsen asthma symptoms, contribute to the development of asthma, and cause permanent lung damage.

Plans Afoot to Restore Housatonic River After PCB Damage – The state of Connecticut is proposing to modify two dams to provide unobstructed passage for fish in the Blackberry River. A bypass channel would be created around Lower Pond Dam and an unnamed adjacent dam would be breached.

The proposed project could improve habitat for Burbot, a state-listed endangered species, and provide high, sustainable ecological and recreational benefits when unobstructed fish passage is restored to nine miles of the Blackberry River.

Fish passage will be sustainable without need for human intervention following construction, says the Department of Environmental Protection’s Inland Fisheries Division, which estimates the cost of the Blackberry River Fish Passage Restoration at $500,000.

The project is on the recommended “short list” of proposals to restore natural resources in Connecticut’s Housatonic River Basin that was issued last week.

After months of sorting through 92 proposals, the Natural Resource Trustee SubCouncil for Connecticut presented a list of 31 proposals for funding acquired in a settlement with General Electric, GE, in 1999.

The settlement included $7.5 million for projects in Connecticut aimed at restoring, rehabilitating or acquiring the equivalent of the natural resources and recreational uses of the Housatonic River that were injured by the release of PCBs from the General Electric facility in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

That fund has now grown to just over $9 million.

The total cost of the 31 proposals on the short list is estimated at around $12.5 million. This is $3.5 million more than the approximately $9 million in grant money that is available.

Eight of the 31 proposals deal with aquatic natural resources, nine address riparian and floodplain resources, and 15 are to enhance recreational services.

The proposals on the short list will now undergo further detailed analysis by a consultant who will make an even shorter list that will fit within the available funding.

The total request in the aquatic category is $1,942,354.

The most expensive item on the Aquatic Natural Resources grant short list is the Trout Unlimited Salmon Kill Restoration and Enhancement $617,260.

This would enhance the riparian corridors and instream habitat of 1.8 miles of Salmon Kill Creek by installing instream habitat structures, stabilizing streambanks, and increasing the vegetation in the riparian buffer.

Also on the short list for a Aquatic Natural Resources grant is the Transylvania Brook Culvert Crossing at East Flat Hill Road estimated at $480,000.

This project proposes to replace a perched twin pipe culvert that prevents fish passage and to stabilize stream embankments directly upstream from the culverts that are currently experiencing a significant erosion problem.

The use of these funds is the responsibility of the Natural Resource Trustee SubCouncil for Connecticut, known as the Connecticut SubCouncil.

This body includes members from the natural resource trustees from the state of Connecticut, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In addition, the commissioner of environmental protection formed the Connecticut Trustee’s Advisory Group to provide the DEP with input from specific regional interest groups including recreational, environmental, planning and governmental organizations.

The short list of proposals can be found on the project website.

The public will have until January 4, 2008 to submit written comments regarding the recommended short list. Comments should be sent to: Laura Fontanella, DEP/IFD, 79 Elm St., Hartford, CT 06106. Verbal comments on the report will be accepted at the January 22, 2008 public meeting at 7:00 p.m. at Kent Town Hall.

Testing Detects Lead in Christmas Toys – When all the torn Christmas wrapping paper is cleared away, parents may have lingering concerns about toys coated with lead paint in view of the fact that more than 20 million toys were recalled for illegally high levels of lead paint in the past six months.

Now parents in Columbus, Missouri can bring toys to the East-Central Health Department units at Alegent Health Memorial Hospital and at Columbus Community Hospital on January 12 for free testing for high lead levels if they are worried about toys that have not been subject to the recalls.

The free tests are part of a growing willingness on the part of health agencies to test toys for lead and other toxics.

In San Francisco, three days in December, the San Francisco Department of the Environment offered free public toy testing at the EcoCenter on Grove Street. They used an instant read testing device, called a portable X-Ray Fluorescence analyzer, to determine whether sample children’s toys containlead, cadmium, or other toxic compounds.

In Michigan, the Muskegon County Health Department tested toys for free on December 19 at the Muskegon Central Fire Station and also tested children for lead poisoning at no charge. A hand-held analyzer, provided by Innov-X Systems, was used to screen toys, jewelry and trinkets for lead contamination even through toy packaging. Results were provided instantly.

Two brothers in Bellevue, Washington formed a company, purchased such an analyzer for about $15,000, and are now performing in-home testing for lead. The cost is $125 for the first half hour and $50 for each additional half hour for them to come to your home and detect lead in your childrens’ toys.

Lead was banned in house paint, on products marketed to children, and in dishes or cookware in the United States in 1978. Still, it is widely used in other countries such as China and can be found on toys imported into the United States.

Imported toys as well as antique toys passed down through generations, put children at risk for lead exposure. Lead also can be found in plastics used in toy manufacture. Lead softens the plastic and makes it more flexible.

The nonprofit Ecology Center based in Ann Arbor, Michigan has posted a database of toys at where parents and other caregivers can now search by product name, brand, or toy type to learn how the products rate in terms of harmful chemical content.

The Healthy Toys database contains the results of the Ecology Center’s testing of 1,200 popular children’s toys for toxic chemicals.

“The government is not testing for toxic chemicals in toys, and too many manufacturers are not self-regulating, so we created the nation’s first toy database to help inform and empower consumers,” said Tracey Easthope, MPH, director of the Ecology Center’s Environmental Health Project.

The Brush Your Teeth! Robot (Photo courtesy Ecology Center)

The Brush Your Teeth! Robot tops the Ecology Center’s list of the toys with the highest amount of lead. This wooden toothbrush holder made in Italy features a wood and metal robot. The lead in the robot’s eyeballs is double the amount of lead in the next worst lead-containing toy and thousands of times above the federal legal limits for lead exposure.

The toys that contained the next highest amounts of lead are two play dinner sets made in China. The Starlez Dinner Party Tea Set and the Starlez Large Ceramic Tea Set both contain illegally high amounts of lead.

Also on the Healthy Toys worst list are card games, backpacks, shoes, and a doll – most made in China.

Some toys containing high levels of lead are not recalled, even when lead levels are known. Congressman Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, became alarmed when Fisher Price, a subsidiary of giant toymaker Mattel, did not recall a toy medical kit despite findings of dangerously high levels of lead in a red blood pressure cuff contained in the kit.

Cummings held a news conference on Thursday to focus more attention on the dangers of lead in toys.

“When Fisher Price was notified of the high lead content in this toy – in levels at nearly 500 percent of the federal standard for paint – the company did nothing,” said Cummings.

“In fact, it was not until Fisher Price was notified that the toy was in violation of Illinois state lead regulations that it took any action at all,” he said. “It pulled the toy off the shelves in Illinois and continues to sell it everywhere else.”

Cummings has sent a letter to Robert Eckert, the CEO of Mattel, encouraging him to stop using lead entirely in all of the toys produced by his company.

“More than 20 million dangerous imported toys managed to slip through the cracks and onto the shelves of our stores – and of our children’s bedrooms – before being recalled this year,” Cummings said. “With a figure that high, we are not talking about a few cracks, however. We are talking about a major chasm in our system that absolutely must be addressed by every party involved.”

On December 19, the House passed H.R. 4040, a bill co-sponsored by the Cummings, which strengthens regulations of lead in toys and expands the authority of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The bill creates the toughest lead standard in the world for children’s products and bans the importation of children’s products that have not been tested and do not conform to U.S. standards.

Meanwhile, the recalls keep coming.

On December 19, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in cooperation with the Army & Air Force Exchange Service, of Dallas, Texas recalled about 11,400 soldier bear wooden toys and a plastic military vehicle toy playset made in Hong Kong because the paint on the toys contains excessive levels of lead, violating the federal lead paint standard.

And also on the 19th, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Discount School Supply, of Monterey, California recalled 13,000 copies of a Giant Grow Chart that measures a child’s growth with a giant yellow ruler-shaped plastic chart. The paint on the chart contains excess levels of lead.

And on December 13, the commission, after being alerted by the state of Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection, ordered the recall of about 300,000 Baby Bead & Wire Toys and Speed Racer Pull Back & Go Action! Cars.

The Baby Bead & Wire Toys were sold at Dollar Tree, Dollar Bill$, Dollar Express, Greenbacks, Only One $1 and Deal$ stores nationwide from March 2007 through October 2007 and the Speed Racer Cars were sold at these stores from September 2007 through November 2007.

Other toys recalled for high-lead levels in December include jewelry, water globes, fishing games, magnets, paint brushes, potty training seats, holiday ornaments, and figurines.

“Ultimately consumers need to compel the federal government and toy manufacturers to eliminate dangerous chemicals from toys,” Easthope said.

If parents discover high-lead toys in their homes, children should not be allowed to play with the toys, health departments advise. Instead, parents should put the toys in a place where children cannot find them until the toys can be returned or destroyed as directed.

Pennsylvania State Health Secretary Dr. Calvin Johnson says all children should be tested for lead poisoning at one and two years of age and no later than three years of age.

“We want people to know lead poisoning is a very real danger with very real consequences for children,” Dr. Johnson said.

Lead poisoning can affect people of all ages, but has the greatest impact on the development of children under the age of six. In addition to dangers associated with lead-based paint on toys, children can inhale or ingest lead found in old, deteriorated lead-based paint in their homes.

Lead poisoning can cause permanent damage to the brain, the nervous system and the kidneys.

Lead poisoning often does not present symptoms but when they do occur, the symptoms are commonly confused with other illnesses. Symptoms may include stomach aches/cramps, convulsions, headaches, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, irritability, vision problems, loss of appetite and sleeplessness.

At lower blood lead levels, a child with lead poisoning usually does not look or feel sick, health officials say. The vast majority of children with lead poisoning will not have any obvious signs or symptoms. The only sure way to know is to get a blood lead test.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state health departments do not recommend home test kits to detect lead in toys, paint, dust, or soil. Studies show that these kits are not reliable enough to tell the difference between high and low levels of lead.

Call your state or county health department for information about testing toys for lead in your area.

Cleaner Trucks And Buses To Roll Across Europe – Emissions of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter from European trucks and buses will be sharply curtailed by new regulations proposed Friday by the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union.

Cleaner Trucks And Buses To Roll Across Europe

The new standard will contribute to an improvement of air quality in Europe, the commission said Friday. It also will be a step forward towards global harmonization as it foresees limit values similar to those of the United States.

Current legislation will be simplified. Directives, which need to be transposed in 27 different national legislations, will be replaced by regulations, which are directly applicable in all 27 EU member states.

The new standard, called Euro VI, is expected to enter into force in 2013. The proposal has been subject to stakeholder and Internet consultations, and will now be discussed by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers.

Commission Vice-President Gunter Verheugen, who is responsible for enterprise and industry, said, “More stringent emission limits will pave the way for cleaner trucks and buses. This is good for the health of our citizens and the environment. Industry gets a clear perspective and the time to prepare to produce clean, high quality vehicles without endangering its competitiveness.”

Member states and their citizens are concerned about the impacts of air pollution on human health and the environment, Verheugen said. Although air quality has improved over the past decade, air quality problems remain throughout the European Union, especially in urban areas and densely populated regions.

To address this problem, the Euro VI proposal lays down common EU rules on pollutant emissions from heavy motor vehicles. The proposal foresees a reduction of 80 percent in nitrogen oxides and 66 percent in particulate matter emissions compared to the current Euro V stage limits.

The commission has developed the proposal by following the principles of Better Regulation and the recommendations from the High Level Group for Competitive Automotive Regulatory System for the 21st century.

The feedback received in the public consultation has been fully taken into account; and the cost and benefit of different options have been evaluated in an impact assessment.

The current directives will be repealed and will be replaced by directly applicable regulations, reducing the delays inherent in the transposition of directives;

The EU says the proposal “leads to global harmonization in that it foresees limit values similar to those of the United States.”

In addition to more stringent limit values, the proposal introduces provisions on off cycle emissions, on-board diagnostics, access to repair information, durability of pollution control devices, replacement pollution control devices, conformity of in-service engines and vehicles, carbon dioxide emissions and fuel consumption measurement.

New Global Forest Agreement Depends on Local Support – The motivation of local people to safeguard their own forest resources is central to a new global forest protection ageement reached by the UN General Assembly last week.

New Global Forest Agreement Depends on Local Support

Fifteen years after global discussions began on how to protect the world’s forests, the General Assembly has adopted a new international forest agreement that is human-centered in its orientation. While it recognizes the role of forests in conservation of biodiversity and other environmental services, the agreement puts a strong emphasis on people and communities that depend on forests for their income and livelihoods.

“This is a paradigm shift,” said Pekka Patosaari, director of the UN Forum on Forests Secretariat.

It means that through the concept of sustainable forest management “policymakers can better judge the value of their forests, in a way that ensures long-term health and sustainability of this important natural resource,” he said.

Speaking at a special event held by the UN General Assembly on December 17 to adopt the agreement, Patosaari said, “Almost all recent success stories of restoring the world’s forests are, in one way or another, based on better recognition of the needs and actions of local peoples, their ownership and access rights and ancient knowledge of indigenous tribes and communities.”

“Today, forests are disappearing, not only because of a lack of knowledge on how to manage and conserve them, but also because we have not been able to establish national or international regimes or support mechanisms which would directly support people’s ownership and motivation to use the forest patrimony for the benefit of themselves and the rest of society,” Patosaari said.

The agreement, entitled the “Non-Legally Binding Instrument on All Types of Forests,” was negotiated in April within the UN Forum on Forests and transmitted to the General Assembly following its approval by the UN Economic and Social Council.

While not legally binding, the agreement approved on on December 17 sets a standard in forest management that is expected to impact efforts to reverse the loss of forest cover, reduce deforestation, prevent forest degradation, promote sustainable livelihoods and reduce poverty for people dependent on forests for their survival.

“There is much more to this instrument than just protecting trees,” General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim said at a special event following the adoption of the agreement. He emphasized the growing recognition of the role of forests in stabilizing climate change, and protecting biodiversity and ecosystems.

“And let us not forget that today, over 1.6 billion people depend on forests for fuel, food, medicine and income,” he said. “So protecting forests really means fostering sustainable development.”

Forests need to be protected because they are disappearing at an alarming rate, said Kerim, noting that over the past 15 years, more than three percent of the planet’s forests had vanished. “The instrument we have just adopted thus expresses our will to respond to this alarming trend.”

In Indonesia, which has been losing forests to illegal loggers at a rapid rate, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Wednesday called on his countrymen to plant trees in a effort to avoid flood and landslide disasters.

Witnessing a simulation on tsunami drill at Gunung Sugih subdistrict in Cilegon, Banten to mark the third anniversary of the deadly Asian tsunami which hit Aceh province on December 26, 2004, the president said widespread deforestation could cause floods, landslides and land erosion.

Landslides and floods triggered by heavy rain this week have left over 120 people dead or missing on Indonesia’s Java island. Thousands of people have been left homeless.

Yudhoyono called on regional governments and all public agencies to plant trees in barren areas to save the Earth from global warming and climate change.

The use of wood energy can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and can contribute to poverty reduction, according to the latest study on global uses for wood presented by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, in November.

But the UN agency warned that the use of wood for fuel can result in deforestation or forest degradation if sustainable forest management is not effectively practiced.

Today half of the annual global harvest of roundwood is used for energy, the FAO paper states. More than two billion people depend on wood for their daily energy demand, mainly for cooking, heating and small industrial production.

In sub-Saharan Africa, fuelwood and charcoal supply over 70 percent of the national energy demand.

Now, in addition to the traditional uses of wood for fuel, wood is seen as valuable feedstock for biofuel production.

High oil prices, the need for secure energy supplies and concerns over climate change have led to a new interest in bioenergy that could affect forests because forests occupy land which could be used for crops producing liquid biofuels.

Forests and forest residues could become even more important for the direct conversion to liquid biofuels. Some experts predict that wood will become the major source of biofuels in the future, replacing agricultural crops and residues.

“Despite the apparent benefits of biofuels, caution should be exercised when planning and implementing large-scale liquid bio-fuel projects,” said Wulf Killmann, director of FAO’s Forest Products and Industries Division.

“Governments should ensure that there are no serious negative impacts on the environment and society,” he said.

Agro-fuel crops might expand into forests, generating land use conflicts and increasing deforestation, with implications for biological diversity, climate change and water.

The FAO called upon countries to develop their wood energy sectors in line with sustainable forest management concepts and to introduce safeguards for the production of liquid biofuels to avoid unwanted negative impacts on the environment and local populations.

At the special event at UN Headquarters, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Sha Zukang spanned the gap between local and global, saying, “To enable forests to contribute to the overall development of society, we need further pro-poor, pro-nature and pro-growth actions that link trees and forests to the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals.”

Severe Cold Weather Sends Death Rate Soaring – Fatalities in the continental United States tend to climb for several weeks after severe cold spells, numbering 360 per day and 14,380 per year, according to a new study co-authored by two University of California economists.

Severe Cold Weather Sends Death Rate Soaring

Deaths linked to extreme cold account for 0.8 percent of the nation’s annual death rate and outnumber those attributed to leukemia, murder and chronic liver disease combined, the study reports.

Cold-related deaths reduce the average life expectancy of Americans by at least a decade, it says.

The numbers are “remarkably large,” said Enrico Moretti, a UC Berkeley associate professor of economics, and Oliver Deschenes, an associate professor of economics at UC Santa Barbara, in a December 2007 working paper, “Extreme Weather Events, Mortality and Migration.”

Cities recording the biggest numbers of cold weather-related deaths include Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis and Cleveland, according to Moretti and Deschenes.

They estimate that up to 3.2 percent of the annual deaths in those cities could be delayed if people reduced their exposure to extremely cold weather.

The study also says that population shifts from colder climates to warmer ones – for reasons such as better jobs, cheaper housing and sunshine – appear to delay an estimated 4,600 deaths a year.

The researchers also said that over the past 30 years, longevity gains associated with geographic mobility accounted for between four and seven percent of the increases in life expectancy in the United States.

In research conducted for the National Bureau of Economic Research, the economists looked at immediate and longer-term death rates after at least 24 hours at temperatures between 10 and 20 Fahrenheit degrees below normal for the county and the month observed.

Noting increasing concern that higher temperatures and incidence of extreme weather events caused by global warming could create major public health problems, the economists said they relied on actual, recorded data and avoided hypothetical possibilities.

They found that women account for two-thirds of deaths following a period of severe cold, although it is unclear why. Infants and men living in low-income areas also are at high risk of dying after a cold spell.

The death rate declines soon after scorching temperatures subside, while deaths after cold spells continue to increase for weeks, the economists found.

Death rates do not escalate after cold snaps that occur when the price of oil is high, the study shows.

Cardiovascular and respiratory diseases are the top causes of death for those who die following severe hot or cold weather.

Data for the extreme weather study came from the U.S. Multiple Causes of Death files and included the cause, date and age of death, the county where the death occurred in the continental United States, and the sex of the person who died.

The study found that those hardest hit by both heat and cold waves are adults 75 years of age or older, many of whom were already physically vulnerable and who would likely have died even in the absence of the temperature shocks.

The researchers acknowledged the geographic differences among the nation’s 20 largest metropolitan statistical areas that were included in their study.

For example, residents of San Diego, Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale and Phoenix recorded no bouts of extreme cold, while Philadelphians faced 31 cold days a year on average, New Yorkers 36, Bostonians 50, Chicagoans 57, Detroit residents 69, and Minneapolis residents 109.

Moretti and Deschenes said that evidence suggests that people can get acclimatized to the cold. The recorded death rate was substantially larger in countries where people were exposed to 10 or fewer cold days a year and lower in counties that have at least 90 cold days a year, they said.

Moretti said, there seem to be few immediate options for helping those most at risk deal with cold weather dangers: “A lifetime of deprivation is hard to counteract in the short run.”

New England Fish Chowder Hold The Mercury Please – A plan by the Northeast states to lower mercury levels in fish throughout New England and New York has been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA.
The plan calls for a 98 percent reduction from 1998 levels of mercury from atmospheric sources in order to make mercury levels in fish low enough for the states to lift fish consumption advisories.

On October 24, the six New England states and New York state jointly submitted to the U.S. EPA a cleanup plan to reduce mercury entering into the states’ waters.

The plan, the Northeast Regional Mercury Total Maximum Daily Load, TMDL, was a collaborative effort between New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission and the states.

Atmospheric deposition of mercury originates from both natural sources and human activities. Natural sources of mercury include volcanoes, forest fires, and geologic deposits. Human sources include coal-fired power plants, municipal waste combustors, sewage sludge incinerators, and residential heating.

Based on recent research, this TMDL attributes 75 percent of mercury deposition in the region to human activities.

Although the vast majority of mercury in Northeast waterbodies is due to atmospheric deposition, about two percent comes from wastewater effluent. The sources of mercury in wastewater include dental amalgam and household use of products containing mercury.

For several years the Northeast has experienced elevated levels of mercury in certain fish species that have resulted in thousands of fish consumption advisories at lakes and rivers across the region.

The approved plan addresses the requirements of the Clean Water Act that require states to develop pollution budgets, or Total Maximum Daily Loads for polluted waters.

To establish the mercury reduction targets each state analyzed fish tissue, evaluated information on atmospheric sources of mercury and estimated the level of reduction needed to meet the target levels in fish.

Approving the plan on December 27, the EPA said that, “Given the consistency of mercury levels in fish throughout the region, and the regional consistency of mercury inputs from the atmosphere, the collaborative approach among the states is a logical and effective way to address the problem.”

The establishment of this mercury reduction plan builds on a number of on-going efforts by the Northeast states to lower mercury levels.

In their plan, the states said they are committed to reducing all in-state sources of mercury. “As a result,” they said, “regional mercury emissions have decreased by approximately 70 percent between 1998 and 2002. This reduction was achieved primarily through stringent emission limits on municipal waste combustors and medical waste incinerators.”

The Northeast states are continuing to make reductions through implementation of legislation to address sale and disposal of mercury-containing products, installation of dental amalgam separators, and emissions controls on coal-fired utilities.

Handling Pesticides Poses Asthma Risk For Farm Women – New research on farm women has shown that contact with some commonly used pesticides may increase their risk of allergic asthma.

Handling Pesticides Poses Asthma Risk For Farm Women

“Farm women are an understudied occupational group,” said Jane Hoppin, Sc.D., of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and lead author of the study. “More than half the women in our study applied pesticides, but there is very little known about the risks.”

The study was published in the first issue for January of the “American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine,” published by the American Thoracic Society.

The researchers assessed pesticide and other occupational exposures as risk factors for adult-onset asthma in more than 25,000 farmwomen in North Carolina and Iowa.

They used self-reports of doctor-diagnosed adult asthma, and divided the women into groups of allergic or non-allergic asthma based on a history of eczema and/or hay fever.

They found an average increase of 50 percent in the prevalence of allergic asthma in all farm women who applied or mixed pesticides.

Although the association with pesticides was higher among women who grew up on farms, these women still had a lower overall risk of having allergic asthma compared to than those who did not grow up on farms, due to a protective effect that remains poorly understood.

“Growing up on a farm is such a huge protective effect it’s pretty hard to overwhelm it,” said Dr. Hoppin. “[But] about 40 percent of women who work on farms don’t report spending their childhoods there. It is likely that the association with pesticides is masked in the general population due to a higher baseline rate of asthma.”

Dr. Hoppin also found that most pesticides were associated only with allergic asthma, even though non-allergic asthma is generally more common in adults.

Some legal but rarely used compounds, such as parathion, were associated with almost a three-fold increase in allergic asthma. But even some commonly used pesticides were associated with a marked increase in allergic asthma prevalence.

Malathion, for example, a widely used insecticide, was associated with a 60 percent increased prevalence of allergic asthma.

Of all the compounds examined, only permethrin, a commonly used insecticide that is used in consumer items such as insect-resistant clothing to anti-malaria bed-nets, was associated with both allergic and non-allergic asthma.

This is the first study to examine pesticides and asthma in farm women, and it points the way for future research to clarify the relationship.

“There is a difference in asthma prevalence between women who did and did not use pesticides but whether it is causal or not remains to be seen,” said Dr. Hoppin.

Dr. Hoppin and her colleagues are planning a large scale study that will better evaluate the links between pesticide exposures and asthma. “We want to characterize the clinical aspects of this disease, as well as lifetime exposures to agents that may either protect against asthma or increase risk,” said Dr. Hoppin. “We hope to start the study in 2008.”